Daddy plays piano
by Franbunanza
Summary: Eloise tells her grandson a bedtime story... A/U a what if fic, the what if is: Eloise sets Daniel free , Charladay


Disclaimer: I don't own any of this stuff.

A/N: random one shot, i wrote after "The Variable", wow that was twisted. I 3 Dan Faraday

* * *

"Frederic? Frederic? Where are you?" Eloise wandered along the hallway, her shoes clicked on the polished, dark wood floors. She stopped at the door way to her son's study.

"Come now, time for bed."

Her grandson was resting his head on the piano that was pushed against the wall.

He turned to face her, his bright blue eyes peered out from under his dark fringe.

"I'm allowed to stay up until 9.30 when its not a school night." Frederic lied, he tried in vain to sound innocent.

"Come now, I know that isn't true." Eloise held out her hand to him. The little boy pouted and took her hand, he followed her up to his room.

"Get in to bed and I'll tuck you in." she directed.

"Hang on a minute, I have to feed Eloise." He broke free from her hand and poured some food into the rats feed tray.

"Why did you name your rat Eloise?" The elderly woman pinched her lips together tightly.

Her grandson shrugged, "Daddy says "Eloise" is a good name for a rat." he explained as he climbed into his bed.

"Did he now?" She pulled the duvet up under his chin.

"She's a very brave rat, once she escaped and climbed on Mummy while she was asleep. Even I know not to wake Mummy when she's sleeping." he chuckled.

"Don't confuse bravery with foolishness, Frederic."

"I like Freddy better." stated the boy.

"I prefer Frederic, well, goodnight." she responded as she made motions to leave.

"Grandma? Uh…wait." the child bit his lip and adverted his eyes. Eloise removed her finger from the light switch.

"Yes?"

"Don't leave just yet." he instructed rather forcefully.

Eloise raised an eyebrow. The little boy looked so much like his father, but his mannerisms were strikingly similar to his mothers.

"Are you missing your parents?" She asked as she pulled the chair from his desk out, settled it next to his bed and sat.

"Ha, I am five and a half you know! I'm not a baby" he scoffed, "Daddy will be back later, and Mummy will be back…well I suppose three months is quite a long time actually."

"It will fly by, time has a bad habit of passing very quickly."

"Good, I want it to go fast." Freddy smiled.

Eloise got to her feet again.

"I usually get a story at bedtime." he spoke up again, clearly not wanting her to leave him but to proud to admit it. "Mummy has been telling me the story of Hannibal and the elephants."

"I'll let her finish telling you that one then. I do have a story but I'm not sure whether or not I should tell it to you. I'm don't know whether you are ready for this particular tale." Eloise examined the child's reaction.

Little Freddy sat up straight in his bed, his blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Tell me, oh, now you have to."

Eloise flared her nostrils, "Very well, but I must warn you this story has some rather sad points."

"I didn't cry at Bambi, so I think I can handle it." he quipped, tucking his knees up under his chin.

"Once, a long time ago, there was a mother who loved her son very much. Her son was immensely talented and he grew up into a man. A man with a fantastic aptitude for science and maths. But this talent led the man to hurting his brain and to completely breaking the brain of his research assistant, she was also the man's girlfriend." she paused to see if it had worried the child.

He understood her pause, "I don't care about the girl, I don't like her."

"But I have only mentioned her in passing."

"I know, but I don't like her, she's getting in the way." Freddy scowled and fidgeted. "Carry on with the story."

Eloise considered her grandsons irrational reaction and continued. "Elsewhere a lonely girl was growing up, she longed to find her home as she had lost it when she was but a child. Not much older than you are now actually. The girl was very clever too, but she wasn't very good at letting people into her heart. The opposite problem to that of the man."

Freddy grinned, "See this girl is better, I can tell already."

"I'm sure that you only think that because I have told you more about the second girl." the grandmother observed. "Anyway, the girl studied very hard and became an anthr…a brave Explorer. Always eager to jump into adventures and learn about different places all around the world, all so she could find her home. One day a rich man got in touch with the girl and with the scientist, he asked them to join the crew on his big metal boat."

Freddy gasped, "Did they become pirates?! My cousin Charlie is a pirate, I thought he was just pretending but I asked Uncle Desmond and he said it was true!"

Eloise gave a slight smile, "They didn't become pirates, but they set off an adventure. Their destination was a magic island. The girl believed the Island was the home she had been looking for and the man had been assured that the Island would help to heal his brain. The girl and the man became firm friends. The man thought that she was beautiful and he enjoyed spending time with her a lot. He was very grateful for the girl, as she was patient with him and his brain problems. The girl's heart started to open up, the man treated her with respect and kindness. He never shied away from her, even when she made mistakes and acted coldly. He helped her and made her feel safe, as if it was okay for her to feel things. They both kept these thoughts secret but were in quiet agreement that they would protect each other no matter what."

"They are falling in love on a boat? Like "The Titanic" film, is that why it's a sad story?" Freddy wrinkled his nose slightly, clearly hoping that his Grandma wasn't just ripping of that film.

"That film is a little old for you don't you think?"

"It's okay, Daddy covered my eyes at the rude bits." he stated.

Eloise gave a disapproving look, "Our two heroes arrived on the Island. They had to parachute out of a helicopter, in a storm. The man was frightened, he was no action hero but he made it. The girl was brave and leapt from the helicopter after her friend, she wasn't as lucky with her landing and became entangled in a tree. There were many people already on the island, some of them found the girl and took her prisoner. One of them shot her in the chest."

The little boy gasped, "Oh no! why? She didn't do anything wrong."

Eloise carried on "Luckily she had a bullet proof vest and was soon reunited with her friend. They grew even closer as they tried to sort out everyone who was stranded on the island's problems. The girl had to be tough to protect the man and to help the people. Once she had to knock one of the other women unconscious with a gun, so that the scientist could neutralize some very poisonous gas and make sure that it couldn't be used to hurt anyone."

"Cool, bam." He mocked a karate chop, "Poisonous gas? What kind of island is this? Its worse than what Odysseus had to deal with."

"Oh, it gets stranger, trust me. A troupe of armed killers came to the island and threatened everyone. So a man named Ben turned a wheel and the island moved in time."

"Hahah, like Doctor Who?" Freddy clapped his hands together.

"Absolutely not! So the man and the woman travelled through time. Travelling through time is not something that human beings are used to. The girl became very sick, her nose started to bleed and her head hurt her every time the Island moved through time. The man was very scared, he promised that he would save her. The man also decided to tell the girl that he loved her. This made the girl very happy, but she was frightened that she would die. Unfortunately she did die, her brain just couldn't take anymore time travel."

Eloise stopped and leant back in her chair.

Freddy remained silent. "I know that death is a part of life, but…Its sad that her brain killed her, after so much time spent getting clever."

Eloise nodded slowly, "The story continues…"

Freddy looked up and met her eyes, a glimmer of hope that maybe the story would end happily hidden deep beneath his tough bravado.

"The man's brain was fixed but his heart was broken, it took him three long years to perfect a plan to change things. He decided that if he stopped an accident from happening in the past then he and the girl would never get on the boat and go to the island."

"But if he did that then he wouldn't get to meet the girl." Freddy pointed out.

"Sometimes when you love someone very much you want them just to be safe even if they can't be with you. Then again, there are a few people that are so right for each other that they were always destined to be together and the means of the union become irrelevant. The latter applies in this scenario, do you understand?"

"Yes, I am the smartest in my class. So what happened?" he urged her on.

Eloise considered telling the truth, telling Freddy that the man failed and was killed by his own mother. She could have told him that the mother was so very sorry for what she had done that she broke the rules of time and changed things. She had stopped them from going to the Island and invited the girl to dinner, promising her information about the Dharma Initiative. It was at that dinner that the girl and the son met. With time they fell in love and married, soon enough they had a son of their own. But she knew that if she confessed this the smart-assed little lad would twig that she was the mother in the story.

"Of course he succeeded, I told you he was a very clever man didn't I."

Freddy gave a soft smile, "It's a strange story, I'm pleased it worked out for the man and the girl, and I suppose I am a bit sorry for what happened to the first girl."

"Now, go to sleep." Eloise stood up, and tucked him back in, "Goodnight."

"Grandma, Mummy is an anthropologist and she has gone exploring, and Daddy is very very very very clever. Just like the people in the story." he reflected out loud.

"That's true, but it was just a story." Eloise turned her face away in the dark.

"I Know, Daddy isn't a scientist anyway. He plays piano." the little boy yawned and settled down.

* * *

"Hey, did Freddy behave?" Dan asked as he bustled through the front door.

"Oh yes, good as gold." His mother reached for her coat. "How was your journey?"

"Uh-yeah, fine, just long, Manchester is pretty far away."

"Was it worth the long journey?" she asked, it was still difficult to look him in the eyes. Eloise changed things for the better for her son this time, but she still had to live with the fact that she once murdered him.

"They were impressed, they actually want me to write the whole score." Daniel told her, nervously.

"Good night," She gave him a thin smile and turned to let herself out, "I am immeasurably proud of you, Daniel."

His mouth hung open, unsure of what to say. His mother, alleviated of her baby-sitting duties, left the Faraday's country abode.

Daniel snapped out of his daze, he turned of the downstairs lights and went to check on his son. Freddy was fast asleep, so he left him and set of to bed himself.

It hadn't even been a day yet but Daniel missed his wife. He missed the way she would fidget and knock him as she tried to get comfortable. He closed his eyes and fell into a silent sleep.

* * *

Charlotte Staples-Lewis Faraday turned the key in the lock, entered her home and dumped her luggage on the floor. She creeped up the stairs and crossed the landing. The door to her little boys room was open so she tiptoed in. Charlotte sat down on the side of the bed and stroked his hair. He grumbled as he stirred.

"Mummy? Three months really did go fast." he said quietly.

Charlotte chuckled, "You silly thing, I decided not to go. I came back, so I could tell you that the only adventures I want to go on are the ones with you and your father by my side."

"That's good, no dangerous islands for you." he closed his eyes and snuggled down into his pillow.

The red head furrowed her brow, surely there was no way her son could have known about the Island. She kissed his forehead and went to seek her husband.

"Dan, Dan, wake up." she knelt down on their bed and shook his shoulder.

"Charlotte?" he reached up and cupped her face, "What are you…I."

She kissed his lips, "I made a decision today."

"Yeah?"

"I decided 'screw Tunisia' I want to go home, so I didn't get on the plane." Charlotte rolled on to her back and laid down beside him.

"I noticed." he glanced to the side, as if he was making sure she was there.

"The only reason I was bothering with all this research was because I wanted to find my home. Dan, I already have a home, so why the hell would I want to waste time searching for some silly island." she waved her arms in the disbelieve that she even entertained the notion of leaving them for one moment.

"Your home is right here, right?" he asked, as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Yes, glad to see we are on the same page." she gave a tired laugh. "Just a shame they won't pay me now."

"Don't worry I got that job today and Widmore left me a surprisingly large amount of stock and funds under a secret trust in his will."

"How out of character for him. Hey wait! You got the job! I knew you would, you have an amazing talent." Charlotte squeezed him tight, she was thrilled. Not about the money but about the fact that Daniel finally got a chance to share his talent with the world.

"Sweetheart, you are sure about giving up on looking for where you were born?" he asked.

"Absolutely, god Dan, I have everything I'm going to need right here. I love you, I love our son and I feel really lucky to have the both of you."

"Ditto, Its like…sometimes…I wonder what I did to deserve such a great life." Dan smirked.

Charlotte sighed happily and kissed his cheek. They both fell asleep in each others arms, neither of them would ever know the truth about how they both died on cold jungle floors, how their boy would never have been born and how it was down to Daniel's cold mother that their life together came to be.

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A/N: You know how i appreciate and adore reviews XXXXXX


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